When you think of Paradox Interactive, you think of grand strategy games first and foremost. Massive maps, equally daunting menus and submenus, and of course, historical settings. In theory, a game like Afterworld – described as a “post-apocalyptic survival grand strategy game” – should continue the tradition of Crusader Kings and Hearts of Iron, but it’s also pushing Paradox Development Studio in a new direction.
Ahead of its Gamescom reveal, I visited Paradox’s offices in Stockholm. It was the first time anyone outside the company was seeing the game and going hands-on with it. Moreover, we had the chance to ask game director Dan Lind – a well-known Paradox veteran – some questions that perhaps weren’t answered by the (generous) first contact with the game.
In Afterworld, players – both in single-player and online multiplayer – are tasked with going out into a post-apocalyptic North America and rebuilding civilisation. Of course, many paths open up instantly, and each decision can reshape its future. Lind mentioned the core idea was born a long time ago: “I was working on Victoria 2 at the point where I wrote the first idea for it, which would’ve have been like 2011 or something like this… The idea has morphed quite a lot since then though. The scale and everything was quite different. Now it’s much more of a bigger game.”
At first glance, Afterworld sets itself apart from past Paradox grand strategy games because it’s more visual and tangible. You have units running around the map, and battles even play out with simple Civilization-like animations. In many ways, you’re closer to the action and strategy most of the time, instead of looking at maps and shifting region borders. Veteran players may even say it looks more like a 4X game, and I’d say they aren’t wrong. Once you start playing it, however, you realise it’s still a Paradox GS game through and through.
In the preview build we had access to – still very early, as we were told the game would likely undergo many changes before nearing a release window – we played as the tribe known as Shelterborn. Think of the typical Fallout origin story; people who were living in vaults after the (loosely defined) apocalypse step outside their vault and encounter a raw and brutal world where different factions follow different rules and laws (or don’t have them at all).
Origins dictate long-term goals and storylines, as well as the ideas and technology a faction has access to when a game begins, but nothing is really set in stone, and Lind mentioned it’s relatively easy to go off the rails: “You’re gonna have a different choice tree in the beginning. Some of them might give you access to certain things that you would get quite late in normal play otherwise. But the Shelterborn will have to go through survival technology that others already know, for example… There’s some stuff where we’re trying to build on the origins, but it’s possible to step off if you want to halfway.”
At this point, it’s hard to imagine how Afterworld actually plays out when its North American setting – described as Paradox’s “most intimate” but still pretty huge – fully opens up. After roughly two hours playing as the Shelterborn near the East Coast area, I had barely ventured into the interior rural areas, and the game was already telling me to (maybe) go check out a point of interest that was halfway across the former country. Meanwhile, an overlord trying to unite the tribes and “restore” the old ways asked me to join him or become an enemy. It’s some pretty daunting early-game pressure, considering I didn’t know what I was doing half of the time.
“In Afterworld, the line between hostile and not can be more fluid,” Lind teased. “You can actually raid reach other and not be at full war status, for example.” Indeed, when conflicts broke out between my Shelterborn and other minor factions, trade didn’t fully stop like it would in other games. The developers wanted to support the idea of a world where things are more chaotic and less predictable, and there’s a lot of space between being at war and living in peaceful times when everything feels upside down.
Similarly, Paradox wants to avoid “combat where you can’t touch each other” and instead is pushing for a more grounded and small-scale approach. Naval units aren’t in the equation, and flyers are very limited in their use, as Lind suggested they’re still a work-in-progress. The hands-on demo didn’t even feature them, as we mostly had crossbow and machete-wielding troops to work with. Still, warfare is mostly a numbers and stats game, as you’d imagine. I’d say taking over enemy towns and outposts felt a bit too easy at this stage, but again, a lot will change between now and launch.
There’s also the possibility Afterworld is simply more forgiving during its early stages. At least, we were told – and our hands-on time with it backs this up – Paradox made a very conscious effort to make onboarding better, mainly through a more guided approach during its early hours and a clearer, more organised user interface. I still had some trouble towards the end of my session when keeping track of my global resource stockpiles, mind you, but it’s true taking care of every front and layer of management and strategy was a breezier affair. Not because it was less deep, but because much of the loop wasn’t as undecipherable for the untrained eye anymore. There’s a learning curve, but Paradox isn’t throwing us in at the deep end anymore.
Automation of basic tasks plays a big role in this “smoother” loop: “EU5 has like a toggle to automate something. That’s not how we do this one. I’ve tried to make manual orders, but also to be able to use them in a larger group. For example, I can attack these three provinces, anything that appears here, with a similar command. Depending on zoom level, you control how much you have to micro it, basically. For economy, there are different levels, setting goals and priorities,” Lind explained. Essentially, players can gradually go from less optimised gameplay to more a more hands-on approach. There’s no “easy mode” toggle that waters it down, full automation, or anything like that.
On a more basic level, the most surprising thing about my hands-on time with Afterworld is there’s a lot of joy to its discovery loop. I’d even dare to say it’s optimistic at times. That big CG reveal trailer plays up the Mad Max-y vibes for obvious reasons, yet both the comments by the devs and the game itself painted a more colourful picture. Building and developing a bunch of communities that survive and thrive through simple farming and clean energy is an option, and you needn’t go down the slavery or cannibalism path only because it makes the matters of production and food easier if you don’t mind being antagonistic. This isn’t yet another inherently nihilistic post-apocalypse, even if you can totally be really evil.
Lind mentioned this sense of exploration and players developing different personalities in a fictional setting is something that he’s particularly proud of: “It’s very interesting to see how people react to it. Are they okay putting themselves in a temporarily limiting situation for like long-term gain and stories? I think it’s going to be very up to people’s personalities how they approach the situation.”
It must be noted all this decision-making won’t be tied to humans only. Other dangers (as well as opportunities) roam the wastelands, with rogue killer robots – yes, there’s a bit of Terminator DNA in there too – and mutants making life in the wilds harder. There were some really striking pieces of concept art that made it very clear Afterworld’s take on a collapsed North America a couple of hundred years into the future isn’t one-note, and I can’t wait to see how it worldbuilding unfolds when all the sandbox systems really come together. Paradox is also saying the true nature of humanity’s downfall is being kept a secret, as they want us to peel back the layers through regular play.
Before we end this preview, we can also share what Lind had to say about the choice of setting the game in North America, as players are already talking and theorising: “There was a couple reasons I chose America. One was that it’s known by most people. It would be the one where I figured people would know the references. Geography is also more useful, in the sense it’s a more closed-off space. There’s a crossover into South America as well, but it’s a much smaller one, so I could justify there being some terrible disruptions that make it impossible to travel.” I’d say this doesn’t entirely shut down an expansion of the universe down the line if people react well to Afterworld (this is just me thinking out loud), but it’s being kept quite focused for now.
Overall, I was quite enchanted by what I saw and played of Afterworld. Its mid-to-late game remains a mystery beyond what’s on paper, and those later phases could make or break the whole thing, but Paradox’s new IP has a nice hook and makes a noticeable effort early on to keep most players engaged and curious. It’ll be interesting to see what the hardcore crowd has to say about this one, but at this point, I’m just happy to see a grand strategy studio that could simply stay on its lane and churn out safe sequels try something new.
Afterworld will launch on PC (Steam) when it’s ready. No release window has been shared at the time of writing.
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